


So That He Wouldn't

by RagingBookDragon



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Son Relationship, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22501069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RagingBookDragon/pseuds/RagingBookDragon
Summary: He's not sure if he can be like Bruce. It's something that's weighed on Dick for a very long time. He just wonders if he can admit it to his father.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 71





	So That He Wouldn't

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really, suck at summaries, but please enjoy my fic! This is from my Tumblr, 'RagingBookDragon' and I hope you like it! -Thorne <3

**_Robin needed to help bring the men who murdered his family to justice._ **

**_So, he could turn out like you?_ **

**_So that he wouldn’t._ **

It’s not hard to recognize that there’s a change in Dick. Even if the boy’s been extremely subtle about it, it’s made such a distinction in his normal habits that’s it’s jutting out like a sore thumb. For a time, Bruce doesn’t break the ice with his son, simply observing Dick to see if he can figure it out without having to have the boy tell him. He’s learned that if he wants to be competent at communication with Dick, he has to help fill in the blanks when Dick’s voice quiets and his words fall short. But with each passing day, the intrusive change is growing larger and more prominent, and Bruce would let it pass until Dick came to him, however, he’s seeing that whatever’s bothering the boy is beginning to affect his ability as Robin. And the only thing more dangerous than messing up on patrol is messing up because your mind was preoccupied. So, Bruce waits. And he waits until they’ve completed patrol for the night, and as they pull into the cave, Bruce gets ready to pull the ice pick and begin picking at Dick’s carefully constructed fortress.

The Batmobile slides to a stop along the parking spot and the engine shuts off. Dick barely spares him a glance as he mutters, “I’m gonna go change and go to bed.” His fingers are curling around the door handle when he hears a distinctive click and the lock descends into the door. He pauses, shock diverting into confusion as he turns back to him and questions, “Uh Bruce? You locked the doors?” There’s no change in Bruce’s demeanor as he sticks his thumbs under the cowl, lifting it from his face, and he looks over, steel-blue eyes searching cerulean. There’s a slight hesitance in Bruce’s voice as he begins, but he hurriedly locks it down, reminding himself that in this moment, he’s got to be a parent.

“What’s been bothering you lately Dick?” Seven years the boy had been in Bruce’s care, and each time he recognizes that there’s a problem, it still amazes Dick that his father has absolutely no sense of delicacy when it comes to conversation; but what amazes him even more, is that Bruce has always been able to tell when he’s been at a low point. It takes Dick a moment to recover, but when he does, he doesn’t clip his words, figuring that honesty is going to be the best policy in this conversation.

“Things have been difficult lately…I’ve been thinking about something that’s been weighing on me.” Bruce waits patiently for the boy to continue, eyes still searching Dick’s face for a sign of weariness; Dick sighs, but keeps speaking, the words soft, but full of conviction all the same. “I’ve realized something Bruce…the thing inside you that drives you to be Batman…to save everything even at the expense of sacrificing everything you have…” He halts, the silence enveloping the car seems to beat at slow intervals until Dick takes the all the courage he’s built over the years and stares into his adoptive father’s eyes and admits, _“It doesn’t drive me…and I don’t want to be you…I don’t want to sacrifice all I’ve got to do this job…I can’t.”_ There’s so much confidence in his voice, for a moment, Bruce is wondering if Dick is trying to convince _himself_ more than he is _Bruce_. He’s waiting for his father to say something, anything; the stillness between them is widening at breakneck speed, and Dick is regretting even opening his mouth, so he backtracks swiftly. “But it’s not something that’s going to keep affecting patrol. I promise it won’t. I promise that I’ll-” His words break off like the sheets of ice that crack and collapse into the Arctic Oceans. His mind is screaming at him to move, to say something, but all that he does is watch helplessly as Bruce closes the door and walks off.

Dick’s head bows, and his heart clenches painfully in his chest as tears well in his blue eyes, and he’s squeezing them tight to keep them in. His jaw is clenched so tight that his teeth hurt, but he swears he wont let the sob break the barrier he’s created; however, the passenger door swings open and he gapes at Bruce as he kneels beside him, a sad smile on his face. Bruce reaches forward and gently takes Dick’s hand, and he pauses a second, taking in just how much Dick has grown since he was a young boy. Before, Dick’s hand fit inside Bruce’s, but now it was almost as big as Bruce’s; it made him realize just how much time had passed. The smile he’s wearing makes Dick’s heart relax, if only a bit, but when Bruce speaks, it’s the reassurance that truly makes him calm. **_“Dick…I’ve never wanted you to be like me.”_** It’s only after Bruce has said the words a second time that Dick reacts, and he chokes,

_“You don’t?”_ Bruce gives a sharp nod and he squeezes Dick’s hand tightly in his own, keeping his words firm, but caring too as he vows,

**_“Dick, all I’ve ever tried to do when raising you is to try and guide you away from what I am. I’ve never wanted you to be like me…I want you to be better.”_** He raises his other hand, pointer finger pressing into the center of Dick’s combat armor, right against his heart. **_“You have a light inside you that burns so bright and with such a conviction.”_** Bruce shifts his hand, gently cupping the side of Dick’s face, his thumb wiping a tear that had escaped Dick’s eye. **_“You’re everything I couldn’t be because of my past…and all I’ve ever wanted was for you to be better than me…to be something greater than the darkness we came from. And son-”_** He waits until Dick’s caught his eyes, even if Bruce’s face is blurred by the tears in his vision. **_“I’m proud of how far you’ve come…and I can’t wait to see how far you’ll go.”_** Bruce barely has enough time to react before Dick launches himself into his arms, sobbing onto his shoulder. It makes Bruce smile as he wraps his arms around his weeping teenage son, to know that he hasn’t been a complete failure as a father. It’s something that Bruce has thought about so many times…if he was as good a father to Dick as Thomas had been to Bruce, even if he’d only been given a handful of years with them both.

But as he listens to Dick’s stifled whimper of, _‘I love you dad’_ , it’s all he needs to hear to remind him that he has.


End file.
